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demographics

It’s the first of the month, we’re looking at the demographics of people who “like” comics on Facebook. This data is compiled using demographic data from Facebook, and is limited to the United States.

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series, because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

Facebook Population: Over 42,000,000 in the United States

The total population decreased by 5 million. It’s possible that the theoretical summer book has dipped already, and the numbers have decreased to “normal” levels. The Spanish-speaking population last month was 13.19%, and this month is 13.10%.

Gender and Age

Last month women accounted for 40.43% and men were 59.57%. The 5 million decrease was almost all men. 4 million lost were men, and women decreased by 1 million.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Women and men under the age of 17 are tied in an even 50/50 split.

Relationship Status

The summer is a time for relationships I guess. More are in relationships or married!

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

Things haven’t changed that much compared to last month just some shifts as to percents due to a loss of individuals.

Gender Interest

There’s a slight increase of individuals interested in the same gender this week.

Ethnicity

While African Americans decreased as a total population African American women actually increased from last month. Also of note, Hispanics increased in almost every demographic except those that are Spanish dominant. Of note, women say major increases in Hispanic women.

Generation

We can see where decreases occurred below withe decreases focused on Generation X and Millennials.

And that wraps up this month’s report. We’ll return Monday with more data and insights!

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It’s Monday and we’re looking at the latest Facebook Fandom breakdown. It’s been a year since I did a report about “gamers” in the lead up to Gen Con. So, welcome to the second annual State of Gamers.

This data is gained through mining Facebook and includes over 175 different terms from a variety of games, publishers, and more. The terms I used are varied, and many, from the name of games to the name of publishers and terms like collectible card game. For this I did my best to stay away from generic terms for genres (like Fantasy) and terms that specifically mentioned video games. I also avoided games like Monopoly or Scategories, I wanted to focus on the games you’d find at Gen Con.

The amount of individuals who like these terms has increased from the previous year by 7 million.

Spanish speakers account for now 3.9 million fans, 12.58% in the United States. That’s an increase of 1.3 million since last year.

Gender and Age

In 2014 Men dominated as the majority with 55% compared to women at 44.17%. A year later and things have changed. Men now account for just 51.61% and women are 48.39%.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last year, the graph above is very similar though the gap between men and women is less. What I do find interesting is that women really start to gain in population in the 26-29 segment, and the majority at 38-41. It would seem that women may come into board games later in life.

Relationship Status

The real shift from last year is that a greater percentage are married or unspecified compared to last year.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

The education stats haven’t shifted much since last year, even with the surge of new folks.

Gender Interest

Those interested in the same gender has decreased percentage wise since last year, but the population has increased.

Ethnicity

This is a new data that wasn’t available last year. Below the data is presented without comparison due to that. I can say that the data is interesting compared to the general United States population. Both the African American and Asian American population are a smaller percentage compared to the general US population, but the Hispanic population is much greater.

Generation

Below are the stats of groups based off of their generation, another new statistic.

And that wraps up our look at who the gamers are in the United States!

We’ll be returning with a new demographic break down of comic book fans this Saturday August 1!

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Below is a guest post from Damian Wampler, creator of the comic Sevara – the Mangement

In the process of writing and creating my first comic book, I had no idea who my future readers would be. As a 38-year-old man, I’ve long since lost touch with the world of today’s teenager or even twenty-something. Facebook statistics helped me understand my reader’s demographic and focus my marketing, as well as adjust the tone and themes of future issues.

I wrongly assumed that my major audience would be 28-year-old men. I just took my own age, hacked of 10 years, and figured, ‘sure, a younger version of me would love to read this, because I’m the one who’s writing it’. Not only that, but my main promotional image features a full frontal shot of an extremely beautiful, and barely clothed, goddess. I assumed that 75% of my readers would be men.

I was partly right. 77% of my Facebook fans are men. The age set weighed heavily in favor of the 18-24 range, with strong representation in the 25-34 range and a healthy number of 35-44 year olds. The number of people reached and people engaged is about the same, because they are drawing on my fan base. But when I look at my ads, who reach out into all of Facebook, I see a different story.

When I began to promote my comic’s ComiXology link with Facebook ads, my adsets featured images of the same strong beautiful women as in my comic. I figured 77% of those clicking on the images would be men. Yet when I looked at the statistics, I found that only a little less than half of the clicks to my ComiXology page were women. At some parts of the campaign, men and women were at 50/50. On top of that, the overwhelming majority of those who clicked the ads were in the 13-24 range. Almost no one else clicks, ever.

Maybe it has a lot to do with the images that I selected. They women are in poses that display strength, and sexuality without sleaziness. Indiecomix.net reviewer Derrick Crow remarked that Sevara’s design has, “a sexualized look but not once did I see her in a sexual light.”

At the Middle East Film and Comic Con in Dubai, I found even more gender differences while ‘manning’ my booth in artist alley. Roughly 70% of my sales of the preview book The Art of Sevara were to women. And at this convention, most of the women were college students from Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, or Saudi Arabia, dressed in partial or full-body hijab. I finally stopped trying to interact with the male young browsers, who never bought anything, and focused all my attention on selling to the women. Maybe the men were embarrassed to pick a book with such a striking woman on the cover? But the women felt right at home with a copy of Sevara in their hands. They wanted to look at images of strong beautiful women, and read stories about strong beautiful women. That’s what I try to deliver in Sevara, I just never realized how thirsty my female audience was for women they could connect with.

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With San Diego Comic-Con going on, we’re looking at the demographics of people who “like” comics on Facebook. This data is compiled using demographic data from Facebook, and is limited to the United States.

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series, because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

Facebook Population: Over 47,000,000 in the United States

The total population increased by 10 million, bringing the total to over 47 million individuals. It is currently unknown where this increase came from, and we’ll be exploring some possibilities in our San Diego Comic-Con focused post. The current theory I have is that there is a summer boom, followed by a bust later in the year. There is also the possibility of a general increase in the male Facebook population. The Spanish-speaking population last month was 13.78%, and this month is 13.19%. That decrease in percentage is due to the fact the population did not increase to keep pace with the boom this month.

Gender and Age

Last month women accounted for 43.24% and men were 56.76%. The 10 million increase this month was mostly in the male segment which saw an increase of 7 million individuals. Women increased only 3 million. Now, men account for 59.57% of the population, while women are up to 40.43%. We’ll have further reporting on the decrease of the female segment in our SDCC report next week.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last month, those 29 and under saw vasts increases in the millions. Those older did see an increase as well, but nearly the growth in volume of the Millennial segments.

Relationship Status

Compared to last month, most segments saw increases other than women who were engaged which remained stagnant.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

Things haven’t changed that much compared to last month just some shifts as to percents due to growth.

Gender Interest

Generally there stats remained very steady, even with the massive growth.

Ethnicity

We saw increases across for African Americans and Asians, but Hispanics decreased. Percentages though were mixed. African Americans increased by 1,100,000 individuals, but the percent dropped by 0.13%. Asian Americans increased by 400,000, and saw their percentage increase by 1.21%. Hispanics decreased by 1.2 million, but those that are Spanish dominant as far as language increased by 300,000 people.

Generation

We can see the increase across the board, but it’s Millennials who saw the largest increase as a percentage of the population and Generation X decreased.

And that wraps up this month’s report. But, next week we start diving into our San Diego Comic-Con special reporting! Come back every day for new data and insight!

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Earlier this week I brought you demographic reports based off of Facebook data for Marvel, and DC. Up next is independent/small press comics! Basically, everyone not the “big two.”

For this report I looked at comic book publisher likes that are not the big two or part of the big two. For this report, Vertigo, Zuda, Icon, are not included though they share similar comics as to other in this report. For this report, terms like IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, Fantagraphics were included. Manga was left out of this as well. In 2014 49 terms were used to generate these stats. In 2015 that number has remained the same.

Facebook Population: Over 4,400,000 in the United States

The indie/small press population has grown since last year by about 1.2 million individuals. That’s the same amount it grew in the previous year.

In 2014 Spanish speakers accounted for 12.50%. In 2015, that percentage dipped a bit, and is also 12.5%.

Gender and Age

In 2014 men accounted for 57.50% of the population and women 40.63%. A year later, that has shifted a bit with men now accounting for 59.09% and women 40.91%.

Here’s the stats for gender.

This is how gender changes as far as percent over age.

And the raw data. Unlike Marvel and DC, Indie/Small press has lost young women as far as percentage of the population.

Relationship Status

A lot more people are engaged, compared to last year. Congrats everyone!

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

There’s so slight shifts since last year.

Gender Interest

These stats are similar to last year, unlike Marvel and DC which saw the percentage of those interested in the same sex decrease.

Ethnicity

For the first time we have these stats, so they’re presented here without comment.

Generation

For the first time we have these stats, so they’re presented here without comment.

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In July of 2014, I looked at the Facebook demographics of Marvel. With San Diego Comic-Con kicking off this week, we’re returning to see how things stand. Yesterday was DC Comics‘ stats, and tomorrow will be Indie/Small Press comics.

For those that don’t know, this data is mined from Facebook’s demographic data using terms that correspond to likes, groups, etc. For this report, we’re not looking at Marvel Comics specifically, but also Marvel Studio, Marvel Entertainment, and more. So think of this as the Marvel brand.

Facebook Marvel Comics Fan Population: Over 22,000,000 United States

That’s up from last year’s stats by about 10.6 million, most of which is men. Since last year, Spanish speakers have shrank as part of the population. In 2014, they were 14.39% and in 2015 it now accounts for 13.18%.

Gender and Age

In 2014 Men made up about 63.16% of the population and women were 36.84% for those interested in Marvel. In the past year, Marvel has made an effort to engage the female demographic, but gains over the past year has mainly been with men. Though both gained, men increased by about 10 million, and women were about 200,000. Men are 77.27% of the population with women accounting for 20%.

Here’s how the gender plays out over age.

Marvel made gains age 22 to 41 mostly. Women did make gains as a percentage for those age 17 and under.

Relationship Status

Compared to last year engaged, married, and unspecified gained in percentages.

And for those who like their pie charts.

Education

As expected, with an older population higher degrees of college and up have increased when it comes to percentage.

Gender Interest

When it comes to those interested in the same sex, those percentages have dropped all around compared to last year.

Ethnicity

These stats were not available last year, so are presented for the first time.

Generation

These stats were not available last year, so are presented for the first time.

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With San Diego Comic-Con about to begin we’re looking at the demographic data for various publishers and comics. We’ve already posted Facebook‘s general stats, and tomorrow will be Marvel, followed by Indie comics, and the industry as a whole. Up now is DC Entertainment.

This statistic breakdown, we’ve looked at terms like DC Comics and Vertigo Comics, but not specific comic series or characters. It’s a focus on DC Entertainment and its publishing imprints. Think of it as looking at the DC brand.

Facebook DC Comics Fan Population: Over 12,000,000 US

Compared to 2014’s statistics, the DC population grew by about 7.6 million. So, over the year, DC has built up their social media presence in an impressive way, over doubling their presence on Facebook.

In 2014 Spanish speakers accounted for 14.55% of the population. In 2014, that amount dropped to 14.17%, not a huge difference considering the growth.

Gender and Age

In 2014, men accounted for 68.18% and women were 28.64% of the DC population. Flash forward about a year, and men now account for 73.33% and women are now 27.50%. That continues a greater gender divide compared to last year, and it has widened over the past two.

And here’s the stats in a handy pie-chart.

And here’s how gender shapes up by percent over age. Compared to last years, it shows the widened gap.

Here’s the full raw numbers as far as age and gender. While the gap has widened overall, it’s not constant overall. Women age 21 and under have gained in percentage of the population. Age 17 and under women account for 43.33%, 10% points more than last year.

Relationship Status

Compared to last year less folks are single, in a relationship, married, pretty much all stats other than complicated and unspecified when it comes to percent.

And for those who like their data in pie chart form.

Education

Compared to last year, the education stats haven’t changed all that much.

Gender Interest

Compared to last year, the percents of those interested in the same gender has decreased.

Ethnicity

This is the first year for this data. As we have nothing to compare it to, I’ll just present it without comment, and save the analysis for later when I compare DC, Marvel, and Indie comics.

Generation

This stat too is new. Here it’s presented in it’s raw form, and we’ll compare it to Marvel and Indie comics later.

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With San Diego Comic-Con kicking off this week, I’ll be looking at a whole bunch of data crunched from mining Facebook. To kick this off, I thought it’d be good to look at how Facebook itself might have changed. It’s been over a year since I last looked at the data, and much has changed, including some of the process itself and what is returned as far as data.

We’ll also be using this data to see how things might impact the comic fan population, and how comic fans compare to the general Facebook population.

Unlike my other reports, this one focuses just on people who are on Facebook and located in the United States. No terms are used at all as far as likes, interests, etc.

Facebook Population: Over 191,000,000 in the United States

Since January of 2014, the population of Facebook users has increased by 11 million individuals. Of that, Spanish speakers now account for 9.95% with 19 million of them. In 2014 that population was 16.4 million or 9.11%.

Gender and Age

In 2014, men accounted for 45.56% and women were 53.33%. Interestingly is both populations have grown not just in overall size, but also percentages. Women now account for 53.40% while men are 46.07%. The difference is a shrinking population not marking either. In the United States as a whole, women account for 51%, while men are about 49%, that was as of the 2010 Census. So, Facebook skewers slightly more female.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age. Unlike comic fans, there’s never a point where men are a clear majority. At most there’s parity from ages 22 to 29.

And here is all of the data presented in its raw form. Compared to 2014, what we see is interesting though. Under 17 has shrunk as far as population, and so has those 54 and up. The growth is really centered on those age 26 to 53.

Relationship Status

This is completely different than last year due to the increased amount of choices.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

This too has changed a lot since last year. There’s now many more choices for individuals to choose.

Gender Interest

Things her too have changed as far as data available. Last year 5.63% were interested in the same-sex. Now, it’s 2.24%.

Ethnicity

This is the first time we have ethnicity for Facebook. The below is presented without comment.

Generation

And finally, we also data on generations, another brand new stat. Below again, without comment, here’s the stats.

Join us tomorrow when we start to dive into specific stats, up first DC Entertainment!

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It’s the first of the month and that means a new look at the demographics of people who “like” comics on Facebook. This data is compiled using demographic data from Facebook, and is limited to the United States.

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series, because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

Facebook Population: Over 47,000,000 in the United States

The total population increased by 10 million, bringing the total to over 47 million individuals. It is currently unknown where this increase came from, and we’ll be exploring some possibilities in our San Diego Comic-Con focused post. The current theory I have is that there is a summer boom, followed by a bust later in the year. There is also the possibility of a general increase in the male Facebook population. The Spanish-speaking population last month was 13.78%, and this month is 13.19%. That decrease in percentage is due to the fact the population did not increase to keep pace with the boom this month.

Gender and Age

Last month women accounted for 43.24% and men were 56.76%. The 10 million increase this month was mostly in the male segment which saw an increase of 7 million individuals. Women increased only 3 million. Now, men account for 59.57% of the population, while women are up to 40.43%. We’ll have further reporting on the decrease of the female segment in our SDCC report next week.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last month, those 29 and under saw vasts increases in the millions. Those older did see an increase as well, but nearly the growth in volume of the Millennial segments.

Relationship Status

Compared to last month, most segments saw increases other than women who were engaged which remained stagnant.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

Things haven’t changed that much compared to last month just some shifts as to percents due to growth.

Gender Interest

Generally there stats remained very steady, even with the massive growth.

Ethnicity

We saw increases across for African Americans and Asians, but Hispanics decreased. Percentages though were mixed. African Americans increased by 1,100,000 individuals, but the percent dropped by 0.13%. Asian Americans increased by 400,000, and saw their percentage increase by 1.21%. Hispanics decreased by 1.2 million, but those that are Spanish dominant as far as language increased by 300,000 people.

Generation

We can see the increase across the board, but it’s Millennials who saw the largest increase as a percentage of the population and Generation X decreased.

And that wraps up this month’s report. But, next week we start diving into our San Diego Comic-Con special reporting! Come back every day for new data and insight!

Like this:

It’s the first of the month and that means a new look at the demographics of people who “like” comics on Facebook. This data is compiled using demographic data from Facebook, and is limited to the United States.

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series, because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

Facebook Population: Over 37,000,000 in the United States

The total population increased by 1 million, bringing the total to over 37 million individuals. The Spanish-speaking population last month was 14.17%, and this month is 13.78%. That decrease in percentage is due to the fact the population did not increase with the larger population.

Gender and Age

Last month women accounted for 41.67% and men were 58.33%. The million increase this month was all in the female segment, which increased 1 million from last month. Now, men account for 56.76% of the population, while women are up to 43.24%.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last month, those 21 and under decreased in percentage and population. The population growth was for everyone over the age of 21.

Relationship Status

Compared to last month, the results are almost exactly the same, those married increased a decent amount as well as those who didn’t specify their relationship status.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

Things haven’t changed that much compared to last month when it comes to gender. I’d expect to see some shifts over the next few months as school lets out and kids begin a new year.

Gender Interest

This month the “unspecified” category saw a sharp increase, especially for women and not quite as much for men.

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